Can A Usb Be Compatible For Both Mac And Pc

CAN A USB BE COMPATIBLE FOR BOTH AND PC FULL GUIDE ON

Today, if you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between the two is an often demoralizing task.Fortunately, there is a solution. Macs and PCs dont support their competitors filing system, although Macs can at.Compatibility issues between MicrosoftвЂ™s Windows and AppleвЂ™s MacOS have diminished sharply over the years, but that doesnвЂ™t mean those issues have completely disappeared. Fitbit Versa 3Data Transfer Cable, ICZI USB 3.0 Mac and Windows Transfer Cable. Apple Watch Series 6 vs. Most external hard drives (HD) are sold in a format called NTFS, which is designed to work with Windows. Hard drives advertised as being compatible with Windows and Mac OS may have misled you into thinking you could actually use one hard drive for both computers.

However, this format doesnвЂ™t support larger files, which can be problematic for transferring 4K videos and so on between Macs and Windows 10 PCs.Meanwhile, the NTFS system used by Windows 10 supports large files, but this format canвЂ™t be read natively by MacOS. ItвЂ™s a simpler, universal method if every file you store is less than 4GB in size. ItвЂ™s a split, niche scenarioA quick Google search may lead you to believe youвЂ™re on the right path by formatting the entire drive with Extensible File Allocation Table, or exFAT. Both computers have the necessary tools to help you partition a new drive once you have it connected. In this case, you can partition your drive so that part of it works properly with MacOS and part of it works properly with Windows.

Make sure you back up anything important before beginning the formatting process. ItвЂ™s not the ideal solution вЂ” we get it вЂ” but it works nonetheless.Before digging in, select a primary format youвЂ™ll use the most: MacOS Extended if you primarily use Mac with a secondary exFAT partition, or NTFS if you mainly use Windows 10 with a secondary exFAT partition.Finally, formatting deletes all data stored on the drive. Leo Watson/Digital TrendsThat said, our guide splits the external drive in half: One primary section capable of storing files larger than 4GB, and aВ secondary section capable of sharing files between MacOS and Windows 10. If you want to save larger files, youвЂ™ll need to create a second, dedicated space using a format optimized for MacOS (Extended) or Windows 10 (NTFS).

Can A Usb Be Compatible For Both And Pc Full Guide On

Windows 10 typically lists an external drive as Disk 2 along with the next successive alphabetic label if you donвЂ™t have any other internal disk-based storage. If your PC has a secondary вЂњdataвЂќ drive (D:), Disk Management assigns it as Disk 0. The process is less straightforward in Windows than what you see on a Mac, but itвЂ™s now easier than ever.Step 1: Right-click on the Start button and select Disk Management on the Power User menu.Your PCвЂ™s primary boot drive (C:) hosting Windows and other programs appears as Disk 1. But letвЂ™s go through the important steps you need to know to quickly partition the drive while working on Windows. Partition the drive on Windows 10 Bill Roberson/Digital TrendsWe have a full guide on how to complete the process from Windows 10 here.

If you accidentally closed the pop-up, right-click on the listed disk and select вЂњInitialize DiskвЂќ on the pop-up.If you didnвЂ™t get the pop-up warning, move on to Step 2.Step 2: Right-click on the unallocated space, and select the New Simple Volume option on the pop-up menu, as shown above.Step 3: The New Simple Volume Wizard begins. GPT is a newer format supporting larger capacities but isnвЂ™t compatible with older versions of Windows.Select the partition style and click the OK button to continue. The former is older and only supports capacities up to 2TB, but is compatible with older versions of Windows. Even more, it wonвЂ™t have an assigned drive letter in File Explorer (This PC), and may not even have allocated space for saving data.If you see an Initialize Disk pop-up window, it provides two formats: Master Boot Record (MBR) and GUID Partition Table (GPT). That means itвЂ™s not formatted correctly to work with Windows. However, you may encounter a вЂњNot InitializedвЂќ error when connecting the device to your PC.

Click the Next button to proceed.Step 7: Click the Finish button to complete.In Disk Management, the external disk should list one new volume вЂ” вЂњWindows 10вЂќ in our example вЂ” and a second portion with unallocated space.Right-click on that unallocated space and repeat step 1 to step 6. Enter a volume label (drive name) too вЂ” we used вЂњWindows 10,вЂќ though you can label this partition with anything. Since your primary PC is Windows 10, use NTFS. Click the Next button to proceed.Step 6: Select a file system. In our scenario, weвЂ™re dividing a 1TB SanDisk Ultra solid-state drive.Step 5: Allow the Wizard to assign a drive letter, or manually assign the letter using the drop-down menu. Type that number into the field next to Simple Volume Size in MB and click the Next button to continue.

If the drive already has a Mac-friendly partition, you can skip ahead to step 5.You may first see an вЂњinitializeвЂќ error because the driveвЂ™s file system isnвЂ™t вЂњreadable.вЂќ Click on the Initialize button on the small pop-up screen to create your first compatible partition and begin at step 5. Assuming that your external drive has no partitions, you will need to create two. Note that you donвЂ™t need to specify a volume size.The result should look something like this: Partition the drive in MacOS Big SurPartitioning an external drive in MacOS isnвЂ™t quite as troublesome.

Enter a volume name (we chose Windows) and select the exFAT format.Step 9: Click the Apply button to add the new partition. Highlight the drive again in Disk Utility and then click Partition listed at the top instead.Step 7: On the following pop-up (it wonвЂ™t move), click the small Plus button located under the blue pie chart to add a second partition.Step 8: A second portion appears, slicing the pie graph down the middle. Select MacOS Extended (Journalist) as the format and GUID Partition Map as the scheme.Step 5: Click the Erase button to make these changes.Step 6: Once complete, your drive should have a single partition. Click Erase, located on the appвЂ™s top toolbar, as shown below.Step 4: In the following pop-up window, enter a name. Riley Young/Digital TrendsStep 1: With Finder highlighted, click Go on the menu bar followed by Utilities on the drop-down menu.Step 2: Double-click the Disk Utility icon in the following window.Step 3: With Disk Utility open, your drive appears under External located on the left. Note that the following instructions also apply to Catalina вЂ” the only real differences are the visual changes to the UI and how internal volumes are listed.

Can A Usb Be Compatible For Both Mac And Pc